Ex-Scouts volunteers create an alternative

LUBBOCK - The Boy Scouts of America's new policy that allows gay boys to be vocal about their sexual orientation was a victory for some.

Others, however, were fond of the "don't ask, don't tell" rule, and think the change justifies leaving the iconic organization.

Scott Scarborough, a former Boy Scouts volunteer and committee member under the Lubbock-based South Plains Council, resigned his position with the organization and is bringing an emerging faith-based alternative to the region.

Trail Life USA was started in July by former Boy Scouts officials and adult volunteers who left Scouting over the homosexuality dispute.

More than 1,200 people representing 44 states met this month in Nashville, Tenn., for the national organization's first convention.

Trail Life will use the outdoors to teach young men and boys the importance of character, leadership and adventure - much like Boy Scouts.

But unlike Boy Scouts, Trail Life will require its leaders to sign a statement of faith in one God and will operate only under churches, Christian schools and nonprofit religious organizations, Scarborough said.

Trail Life also will avoid the issue of sexuality, something Scarborough said was working for Scouts and a policy he thinks the organization should have continued.

"BSA made this Y in the road," he said.

"What they did is they forced each and every family to decide where they're at. The position had been, 'We are asexual.' We're boys and young men, and Scouts is not the place to discuss sex."

Scarborough feels separate boys and girls dorms or tents during coed campouts with Girl Scouts will no longer be adequate to prevent temptation.

"If the pressure is normal heterosexual pressure, it's really easy to separate that. When you get this other, now you're blind to it. You're not as equipped to foresee and protect kids," he said.

A professing Christian, Scarborough said he believes no one should have sex before marriage, regardless of his or her sexual orientation.

Trail Life will discourage its participants from being sexually active, whether straight or gay.

Practicing homosexuals will not be allowed into the program.

Trail Life takes its slogan, "Walk Worthy," from the book of Colossians in the Bible and includes a pledge to serve God and country. However, members of any background are welcome, Scarborough said.

"I want them all," he said. "I'm not there to turn your kid into a Christian. What we want to be is we want to be God-centered. We want to be Bible-based, but not churchy. I don't want to be breathing that down these kids."

Steven Warren, a retired senior district executive for the South Plains Council, said he thinks Boy Scouts will see a significant change in membership, sponsorship and charter organizations long-term because of the policy change to allow gays, but he's not too concerned about the organization's troops on the South Plains immediately feeling the effects.

But as with any business, the competition of emerging organizations like Trial Life will be good for Boy Scouts, Warren said.

"Competition is a good thing," he said. "You get better. (Scarborough) is joining this other organization, which sounds like they're going to do really good things for kids."

Boys in Trail Life who start in kindergarten will begin their journey as Woodlands Trails. In sixth grade, they will move up to become Navigators and in ninth, Adventurers. The organization will also have a program for 18- to 25-year-old males called Guidon.

The highest achievement in Trail Life will be the Freedom Award, and the requirements - with the exception of a ministry obligation - will be similar to those of the Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts, Scarborough said.

"I think in three years, we will start being known. In five years, we'll be a presence or a force," Scarborough said.

Efforts to contact officials with the Boy Scouts' Golden Spread Council were unsuccessful Friday.

Scarborough said he hopes to have four to six troops fully functioning by January.

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